Project Insight

Chaotic spread-spectrum system development and implementation using FPGA/VHDL for secure wireless communications is a unique project in that it has not been attempted before. There have been advances and much research in the individual fields of spread-spectrum communications, chaotic signals, wireless security, and of course FPGA and VHDL. But to combine all of these components into this one project is a first, and this is a timely engineering challenge. This group decided to work on such a project because it will prove to be worthy and useful for homeland securities, since chaotic spread-spectrum is very secure for wireless systems. This will also be the first test bed for Wireless Systems for Stevens Institute of Technology.

One can see that some areas of this project have been researched individually very extensively. For example, one can consult Communication Systems, The Essential Guide to Wireless Communications Applications, The Essential Guide to Telecommunications, Principles of Wireless Networks, Wireless Communications – Principles and Practice, Introduction to Spread Spectrum Communications, and A VHDL Primer. These are all good resources for one to bring him up to date in the different areas of this project in an effective manner. These are the same resources the group intends to refer to in learning and applying the different aspects of this project. These books will be used intensively by the group. Professor Yao will be giving us other forms of publications to assist us.

There are different ways in which our group adds new features and improved performance parameters to enhance the resultant system performance of our project. For example, we will use FPGAs as opposed to Digital Signal Processors or even microprocessors. This aspect of our design will greatly reduce the overall cost. Also, we will use chaotic spread-spectrum for wireless security as opposed to other forms of security. Chaotic spread-spectrum is very secure and will thus be really useful and effective in our project. These can be seen as improvements in previous methods to provide security in our project area.

This project will operate in any area that requires the study of spread-spectrum communications, chaotic signals, wireless security, and FPGA and VHDL. Our advances in applying chaotic spread-spectrum by using FPGA boards and VHDL language will be a great asset to any company that wishes to work with wireless communication. Our project in its final form will save a company time and money in that the company will not have to spend manpower and the time that our group has already spent in developing this project. For example, we will work on generating a code in VHDL for chaotic spread-spectrum. A company will save time and resources on not having to work on this code. Further, our entire project could be extended to new users such as colleges that want to research and instruct in the areas that this project covers, thus broadening the application of this project.